What the Fish? Episode 11: Feeding Frenzy

You Are What You Eat

Among fishes, the different types of food and the ways in which they are consumed are as incredibly varied as the fishes themselves. Some fishes are vegetarians, including the Piranha relative the Pacu, while others are ferocious carnivores, such as the African Tiger Fish. Fishes often have very specilized dentition and feeding structures depending on their source of food. For example, fishes that crush hard crustacean shells may have large boulder-like teeth. Filter feeding fishes, such as the Whale Shark seen below, have evolved fine filamentous structures to help sift through plankton. Overall, fishes eat almost anything you might find in an aquatic environment, and they do so efficiently!